Like You Never (A Cappella)

For every five steps forward I take ten steps back

I love the music but can't see where it's at

Strictly fast food run-ins

How we supposed to adapt?

How we supposed to raise kids to that?

And I ain't blaming no one

It starts with me

Before heart failure, there's clogged arteries

We were usually on point, no archery

Created to a fault like an art degree

But something happened

It's kinda like a takeover

The sampling law changed, the looping of the breaks over

The corporate, there's nothing pretty 'bout this makeover

Pay for play and now you influence what we say

We even let you walk off with the DJ

It's hard to hear a single scratch on record these days

Beside the cliches

Somebody's got to keep up traditions

It's a new day

But still something is missing

I mean

That's what I'm telling everybody

I'm like you never

That's what I'm telling everybody

I'm like you never

And now the new school is no school

'Cause everybody and their mama knows Pro Tools

Writing raps and recording bad vocals

Being a star is more than being anti-social

I'm more than boastful

I'm hopeful of a brighter tomorrow

Used to weaving words together, other writers can follow

I hear anger in music but the message is hollow

Upon further inspection you can see what's been borrowed

Foreign ideals are real

Bluffing to do with nothing, now we reinvent the wheel

Caps get peeled as we slip on banana skins

Stuttering, stammering

Should've been Fannie Lou Hamer-ing

Instead we are glimmity glamouring

The struggle is a headache plus anodyne

Mic check, even breathing is challenging

The music is a powerful thing

Especially when it's used to boost the power within

But you don't hear me, huh?

That's what I'm telling everybody

I'm like you never

That's what I'm telling everybody

I'm like you never

I had my palm read, she told me not to leave this alone

So I miss real artists like Nina Simone

Full of integrity, never too keen to be cloned

That's why the need to be different's buried deep in my bones

'Cause swagger never paid bills, just skills

I guess I took the long road, mountains plus hills

Turntables and mic cables

Love from the crowd is more important than the right label

And I don't want the '90s sound back

But you can't deny the LinnDrum really sounds wack

Just living through the movie but not feeling the soundtrack

Not trying to be bougie but not tryna be 'round that

I grew up in a brown-black facade

So I'm not tryna act like I'm that large

But I'm tryna rap like I'm that God

When it comes to culture I'm pulling rap's card

Like a placard

That's what I'm telling everybody

I'm like you never

That's what I'm telling everybody

I'm like you never